An informal poll on OregonLive.com shows most readers favor law enforcement agencies retaining license plate images indefinitely, but the results were heavily influenced by a California company that sells license plate readers.

Two-thirds of more than 1,200 votes in the poll at 2 p.m. indicated that law enforcement should retain license plate images indefinitely. In second place was “Police should not collect license plate images at all” at 10 percent.

The results were influenced by a mass email sent to about 10,000 law enforcement officers and others by Vigilant Solutions, a company based in Livermore, Calif., that sells license plate readers, facial recognition software and other devices for law enforcement.

“Vigilant invests heavily in battling pending legislation in various states to limit or ban law enforcements access to LPR,” Brian Shockley, vice president of marketing, wrote. “Please click on the below link, and select ‘Indefinitely’ if you believe LPR data is valuable in your efforts.”

Shockley’s message also included a screen grab of the results before he sent the email. At the time, 32 percent of voters said police should not collect license plate images at all. About 21 percent said police should retain the images indefinitely. “Let’s see how far we can move the needle!” he wrote underneath it.

In a phone interview Thursday afternoon, Shockley said his request was ethical and that law enforcement officials should make their voices heard on legislation that could affect them.

"If proper guidelines are in place for the use and access of this data, why would you delete data that could bring home a kidnapped child to its parents?" he said.

Poll analytics show that as of about 2 p.m., 187 votes came from Oregon-based IP addresses. About 39 percent of Oregonians said police should not collect license plate images at all. About 22 percent said police should retain the images indefinitely, and 18 percent said 10 days was appropriate.

The poll is unscientific to begin with but is intended to provide readers with a forum to discuss the issue. Feel free to add your comments below.